


Stay

by NoirSongbird



Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Post-War, Reconciliation, Redeemed Ben Organa, Reunion
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-09
Updated: 2017-01-09
Packaged: 2018-09-15 22:18:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,276
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9260036
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NoirSongbird/pseuds/NoirSongbird
Summary: Hux had made a life for himself after the war. Of course Kylo Ren -Ben Organa- had to show up and make things difficult.





	

**Author's Note:**

> So! This was a tumblr prompt for [helliskylux](http://helliskylux.tumblr.com/), and it got a bit longer than I expected so I figured I'd cross-post it. <3 I missed writing for these boys, I think.

This was supposed to be the ass-end of the galaxy, untameable and outside Republic space to the greatest degree you could be without flying off into Wild Space. This place was supposed to be _safe_ \- that was why Hux was _here,_ because if the Republic found him, he’d be dragged in and tried and that all sounded very unpleasant, so he’d fled to this Outer Rim rock and holed up and prayed that would be it. The people here even almost _liked_ him sometimes; they didn’t care who he was or what he had done, they cared that he was willing to repair anything set in front of him and that he was _good at it._

Hearing that a Republic ship had touched down, then, sounded like as good a sign as any that he ought to shut down his little repair shop for the day, lock up, hide in his small room in the back, and pray they didn’t know he was here and weren’t doing some sort of house-to-house search. It was probably a coincidence, they were seeking candidates for their new Jedi Order, or something.

That was what he wanted to tell himself. It was even a good answer, up until there was a knock on, specifically, _his_ door. He felt a flash of panic, but - well. He hadn’t survived this long as a fugitive by panicking easily.

So he waited, and hoped, even as the knocking grew louder and more insistent, and then it stopped, and he let out a relieved breath.

“Armitage, I know you’re in there.” 

_Fuck._ He knew that voice. It was softer than he was used to, and it had been a very, very long time since he’d heard it, but he would never forget it. It was also the last voice he wanted to hear, even if it made his heart hurt something fierce. 

“Hux, _please,”_ Kylo Ren - Ben Organa - said, and Hux wanted to punch him. 

“If you’re here to take me back to the Republic,” Hux snarled, “you’d best skip attempting to arrest me and just kill me now, because I won’t go. How did you _find_ me?”

“That’s not what I want.” Organa said. “I found you because I know you, Hux. I know how you feel in the Force. I wanted to see you again. Open the door, please.”

“We both know you can open it yourself, stop toying with me.” Hux shot back. Damn it all, he did _not_ want to see Ren again. He’d convinced himself he _never_ wanted to see Ren again after he’d disappeared with no more than an apology note, as if a _note_ was anything close to enough - _fuck._

“I want you to let me in. I just…can we please talk? Face to face?” Organa’s plea was actually a little bit heartwrenching, and, besides, the longer the Republic’s precious redeemed poster boy was outside his door, the harder things were going to be, so Hux bitterly walked from his back room to the front door, unlocking it and yanking it open, turning the lights on on the way.

“Fine. Talk.” He said, sharply, once Organa was inside and he’d shut the door behind him. He took a long look at Ben Organa, too, because this was the first time he had seen him face to face. The scar was still there, from his cousin’s blade, but his hair was longer, and more carefully kept, and he was in soft brown leather instead of Order black, and the lightsaber at his waist didn’t have those silly side vents. 

So much of him was still the awkward, shy man Hux remembered and – _no._ He _left._ He turned on the Order, spilled all their secrets, helped the Republic tear out its heart. He was the reason Hux was on the run, holed up on this Outer Rim dustball.

“I’m sorry,” Organa said. “I shouldn’t have - if I’d thought I could have gotten you to come with me, I would have. I didn’t want to leave you, but I had to leave.”

“I wouldn’t have,” Hux said, icily, “even if you had asked.” That was a lie. Kylo Ren - Ben Organa - could probably have convinced Hux to sabotage his own ship if he’d asked. Hux had been so in love, so _foolishly_ in love, he would have done anything.

“I know,” Ben shrank, somehow, making himself smaller, as if that was even close to a proper apology. “And I couldn’t ask you to. The Order had been your whole life, I…” He closed his eyes.

“And so you sold the Order out.” Hux said. “Because that seemed a better option to you?” Ben winced, guiltily. Hux turned away, waving a hand dismissively. “There. We talked. You apologized, as if that could _begin_ to make amends. Go back to your Republic and your Jedi.” He had to do this, even if it felt like crushing his own heart under his heel along with Ben’s. 

He’d thought he was done hurting over Kylo Ren, over Ben Organa. He thought he’d cleanly cut out the part of him that loved Ben and buried it, but he hadn’t, and that was becoming increasingly obvious the longer he spent faced with him. But it was – this was the best option. Ben had his family, had…everything. 

“I don’t –” Ben started, as Hux began to walk off, to dismiss him, and then - “Hux. _Armitage._ I still love you.”

Hux wanted to _scream._ It wasn’t fair, it wasn’t right, how that was enough to stop him, how Ben Organa could waltz out of his life and break his heart and ruin everything, and then waltz back in, and – and make Hux _feel things,_ all over again.

“That didn’t seem to matter when you _left_ and then _sold us out.”_ Hux snapped, harshly. “I could have died, you know. I barely escaped the _Finalizer.”_ Fleeing his ship had been the hardest decision he had ever made. Part of him had wanted to go down with her, because everything had bene over - Snoke was dead, Ren was gone, everything was crumbling, but Phasma had bodily shoved him into an escape pod before getting into one herself.

“I thought you hadn’t,” Ben admitted. “I thought you’d gone down with your ship. The Republic thinks you did too, they’re not…looking for you.” He swallowed, loud enough for it to be audible. “But I could still feel you. I tried to ignore it, but I couldn’t, not forever, and…here I am.” He fell silent for a long, long moment. “If you really want me gone, I’ll go. But I could stay here, with you. They don’t know what to do with me, anyway - Luke wants me to be his redemption success story, but I think he was expecting me to die. They all were. I’d. I’d rather be out here, with you. I know I ruined everything, but…please, Hux, give me another chance. There’s nothing I wouldn’t do for you.”

 _Damn it._ Damn it, damn it, damn it.

Strong arms wrapped around his shoulders, and Hux found himself pulled against Ben, a warm, solid presence, the way he always had been. He didn’t realize tears were rolling down his cheeks until one of Ben’s thumbs came up to wipe them away.

“I’m sorry,” Ben said. “I am so, so sorry, please, just…let me try again.”

_Try again._

Hux was not normally the sort of man who gave second chances.

Kylo - _Ben -_ had broken so many of his other rules, though, it only seemed right to let him break that one too.

“Stay,” Hux said, quietly. “Please, just. Stay.”

**Author's Note:**

> Come talk to me on tumblr, at [noirsongbird!](http://noirsongbird.tumblr.com/)


End file.
